Construction Contracts and Legal Concepts in Construction
The Case
The project under analysis is a $4 million elementary school remodel, whose bid was made a lump sum. The documented materials are in jeopardy and conflict, the majority of which include new requests to be made on existing programs. The General Manager cannot complete his tasks fully due to a lack of documentation from the consulting firm named A/E. It has been established that’s the firm has exhausted the funds needed for the project’s administration. Besides, the responses to the questions raised by the general contractor are not answered. The answered queries include unprofessional and poorly constructed reports. Finally, A/E is notorious for missing meetings, and those that are attended are not fully served with meeting notes.
What Should Be Done to Resolve the Issue
The case presented showcases a variety of issues faced by the general manager. One of them is the lack of accessibility to critical construction materials. Secondly, the project is stalling because funds set aside for remodeling have been exhausted. The manager cannot access and modify key documents on the field. Management of revisions has also been hampered because A/E does not attend weekly meetings. The communication issue can be resolved by centralizing plans and other essential documents. The process entails establishing a single place where important documents can be stored and accessed without reaching out to A/E that has proved unreliable. The best way to complete the task is to ensure that A/E attends one meeting and integrate all key materials on a single cloud computing platform. The platform used should also ensure that project participants can collaborate online. It would also prevent delays or inadequate responses to questions. It would also ensure that the team stays within the allocated budget. Finally, the project manager must task A/E to revise the $4 million remodel to a reduced budget to ensure that the remaining funds can serve the project entirely.
What Could the School Have Done to Prevent the Events from Happening
The school could have ensured a better collaboration with A/E through team integration and joint working. In team integration, the two stakeholders could have considered integrating processes that offer an improved working relationship and atmosphere and enhanced access to project information (Karlsson, Andreas, and Ida 9). Joint working could also have helped the school determine A/E’s limitations and then focus on essential tasks associated with the project or change a consulting firm altogether. The application of joint working and team integration could also have led to other key additions such as risk allocation and problem-solving methods to improve the relationship between A/E and the general manager, suppliers, and other stakeholders. The school could also have improved its resource integration and built a working communication model with A/E to strengthen its outcomes. Overall, the issues that happened due to insufficient due diligence and strict adherence to collaborative work could have mended the highlighted concerns.
Risks That Both the General Contractor and The School Could Incur If the Situation Is Left Unchecked
The project encounters significant issues: the teams involved, that is, the school, the general manager, and the contractor, have failed to collaborate due to poor responses from A/E, missing weekly meetings, and unprofessional handling of key documentation questions; and poor communication. The school and the contractor would encounter delays in project schedules because of poor collaboration. The contractor has also overspent the allocated $4 million budget, implying that both parties have to downsize the project, else it stalls. Finally, the escalation of the issues could lead to project failure, mostly due to poor risk management, and that the effort, time, and cost invested are wasted.
